Last week’s Supreme Court ruling upholding the tax credits for Obamacare is just the latest in a string of developments that have kept employers from ditching their group health plans, as many predicted they would.
For at least 20 years, Republicans have been pushing for giving tax credits to help individuals buy health insurance. The Supreme Court’s latest Obamacare ruling does Republicans the favor of preserving them.
London Mayor Boris Johnson is proposing a $16 billion fund to encourage growth of emerging health-care companies in the United Kingdom in an effort to catch up to biotechnology clusters in the United States.
The Indiana-based company has taken the name Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc. and will trade under the ticker symbol to "ZBH" on Monday. Zimmer Holdings Inc. agreed to buy privately-held Biomet in April 2014.
Cigna said Anthem’s a risky bet due to fallout from its massive data breach, lawsuits that accuse it of conspiring to inflate prices, and lack of a growth strategy. But Wall Street thinks this deal is going to happen, unless Cigna can find another buyer.
But hospitals’ list prices in Indiana are more than three times what the federal Medicare program pays.
If Anthem merged with Cigna Corp. it would create a behemoth with even greater negotiating power, which could benefit employers but hurt doctors and hospitals.
The Obama administration could write a new regulation. Congress could pass a short law. States could run a low-cost exchange. But the politics might require all parties to let the tax credits die while they try to pin the blame on the other side.
Axovant Sciences Ltd., a company without a finished product or a dime of sales, has an almost $3 billion valuation after its public-market debut. The IPO shows the staggering potential for any company that can develop a successful Alzheimer’s treatment.
Lilly’s basal insulin peglispro proved more effective than the $7 billion blockbuster Lantus at controlling diabetics’ blood sugar, but it also had greater effect on patients’ livers and hearts. Analysts are unsure of its future.
The new version of the Healthy Indiana Plan, backed by Obamacare funding, has enrolled 229,000 new participants in four months without breaking stride.
Wall Street analysts say a purchase of Louisville-based Humana Inc., which reportedly has put itself up for sale, would by Indianapolis-based Anthem. An Anthem-Humana marriage would be the biggest merger in the history of U.S. health insurance.
It took $394,000 to rank in the top 1 percent of U.S. earners in 2013. And more than 100 of the Indiana contingent in that exclusive club were physicians employed by one of the four major hospital systems that operate in the Indianapolis area.
The individual hospital campuses around Indianapolis saw their collective revenue rise 8 percent and their collective operating profits rise 22 percent from from 2011 to 2013. That’s solid, just not stellar, growth.
In Indiana, Anthem has struck accountable care organization deals with 14 health care provider groups and signed up nearly 2,900 primary care providers to its medical home program. And it’s pushing for more in the future.
For employer health plans, diabetics generate $10,000 more per year in medical bills than non-diabetics. That means the rise in the prevalence of diabetes over the past 25 years is costing Hoosiers an extra $2.6 billion annually.
With a CEO hired and a soon-to-be signed lease for office space, the $360 million Indiana Biosciences Research Institute is ready to lift off.
Anthem Inc.’s brand has taken a noticeable hit since a massive data breach earlier this year, but the impact was blunted by positive perceptions of the way the company handled the breach.
That’s less than one-tenth of 1 percent of what Hoosiers and their health plans spend on hospital care each year. But it’s a step in the right direction.
Finding and supporting savvy people might result in more life sciences startups.
